Kasoa Muslims groups celebrates Sallahfest

Dr. Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, the Central Regional Minister, has said government at the local level needed the co-operation of all stakeholders, especially residents of villages and towns, to be able to galvanize requisite resources to address their development challenges.

Development was regarded as the enhancement of our living standards, and efforts geared towards achieving this could not ignore culture, he said.

Dr. Aquinas made these remarks at a Sallahfest Durbar held at Kasoa, and organized by various ethnic chiefs in Kasoa, under the theme: “Harnessing the power of culture and diversity for community development”.

The Sallahfest is a historic occasion when Muslims in the area who are in the celebrating mood of Ramadan together with other ethnic groups living in the municipality, meet to portray their various cultures, to symbolize that they are together with a common goal, and to work towards their developmental needs.

The Regional Minister said the Zongo communities under the various tribal chiefs in particular had unique characteristics and culture practices that could be explored to bring about development.

“It is important to note that without our chiefs and other traditional rulers, grassroots democracy will be a daunting task since there is no Institution or Government which can seek to successfully implement any idea at the community level without the involvement of traditional rulers and Chiefs”, he said.

Dr. Aquinas said in spite of modernity, the importance of the chieftaincy Institution to Community and National Development, could not be over-emphasized.

“The Institution complements Government’s efforts in serving the cultural and social needs of the people,” he added

He said an issue that had featured prominently in public policy debate was the need for development planners to centre development on initiatives that hinged on indigenous culture of the people, because it had been accepted that culture was central to development.

Dr. Aquinas appealed to the gathering, particularly the leaders, to be guided by an advice by late President Evans Atta Mills when he said, “culture and tradition has never been an enemy of change and should not be invoked as an excuse for those who seek to retard progress”.

The chief of Kasoa, Garba Alhaji Salima Seidu, on behalf of the entire people in the area, thanked the government for projects so far executed in the area.

He used the occasion to remind the President of the promise he gave them when they paid a courtesy call on him at the Presidency, adding that “we are waiting because we believe you will fulfill your promise”.